An individual that is travelling, whether it is business-related travel, leisure travel or a combination of both, is often facing the daunting task of trying to become comfortable with their travel location surroundings. In many instances, the traveler faced with a locale that they are unfamiliar with is unaware of where businesses/merchants, such as restaurants, shopping centers/malls or the like, are located. Moreover, the traveler may be unaware of which businesses, merchants or service providers in the travel location offer discounts or the like.
From the alternate perspective, businesses/merchants know that the traveler may be more likely and more immediately likely to use their business than local residents. For example, travelers are more prone to dine out, engage in entertainment activities and the like, than their local resident counterparts. As a means of enticing the traveler, business/merchants may be more willing to offer the traveler a discount/offer or more substantial discount/offer than they would otherwise offer to the local residents. However, the business/merchant will often be unaware of which individuals are travelers and which individuals are local residents. In addition, unless the business/merchant resorts to conventional strategies, such as handing out flyers on street corners or the like, the business/merchants may not be capable of making travelers aware of their business.
Therefore, a need exists to develop systems and method for identifying individuals as travelers and, based on the identification, providing merchant offers to the travelers. A further need exists to tailor the merchant offers such that they are traveler-specific, taking into account what the traveler typically purchases when travelling or when located proximate their residence. In additional need exists, to provide other information/offers for services to the traveler, specifically financial institution-related information/offers based on identifying an individual as a traveler. Moreover, a further need exists to ascertain an individual's travel history, including preferences, patterns and the like, so as to predict future travel and provide necessary information and offers in advance of the predicted travel.